Tag Archives: cognition

The goal of this project is to create a cognitive agent simulation framework for studying social behavior in online information environments. We are developing a scalable, virtual laboratory, calibrated on real-world data, for studying dynamics of online social phenomena and information diffusion at different temporal resolutions and at multiple scales, from individual to community to global collective behavior.

Individual agent models within COSINE will be based on first-principles of human behavior uncovered through empirical analysis of the vast troves of online behavioral data. These models will incorporate bounded rationality and cognitive biases within models of attention. In addition, COSINE’s multi-resolution, scalable framework will enable time-resolved, massive simulations of dynamic information environments.

Key to COSINE’s success will be its ability to model complex phenomena arising in multiplex networked information environments. To achieve this, COSINE will incorporate networks into interactions between agents, thereby enabling the study of the interplay between individual behaviors and network structure, including (a) how individual traits affect where in the network individuals position themselves, (b) the information environment these positions produce, and (c) the impact this has on individual behavior. Finally, the system will be calibrated on real-word data collected from a plethora of online platforms.

Adaptive Behavior and Cognition—West

The Adaptive Behavior and Cognition Lab–West (ABC-West) is dedicated to exploring the cognitive mechanisms that people (and other animals) use to behave adaptively in their environments. We study the interactions between behavior and environment at multiple scales–including how cognitive mechanisms have evolved in response to particular environmental structures, how behaviors are learned through interactions with the environment, and how behaving and acting in the world can change the environmental structures that agents face in the future. We look at particular adaptively important domains such as mate choice and food choice, and we use tools including agent-based modeling and simulation and laboratory experiments. ABC-West was formed in 2005 through budding from the original ABC Research Group in Berlin, Germany.

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